Install Firmware
Installation using these steps will only work if AM32 is installed on the ESC, as it is using the AM32 bootloader to perform the firmware update.
Please purchase a ESC with AM32 pre-installed, or manually install AM32 with these instructions.
To install, update, and configure Hydra firmware, you must use a USB-linker meant for communicating with ESCs. These are used with AM32, BLHeli_32, and BLHeli_S, for configuration and firmware updating.
See this wiki page for a list of USB-linkers you can use. That page also has links to the appropriate USB drivers that you might need to install.
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Keep the ESC's power completely off
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Connect it to the USB linker through the main signal input cable (the servo cable).
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Connect the USB linker to the PC
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Power up the ESC
This sequence activates the AM32 bootloader. If you connect it in a different sequence, the bootloader might not activate.
Download (or build) the appropriate firmware for your particular ESC, in the form of a *.hex file. See the firmware release download page.
The PC app is provided for Windows called hydra-fw-tool.exe, packaged in the release download. Simply run this tool and follow the on-screen instructions. All you need to do is to tell it which serial port to use, and then tell it where the firmware *.hex file is.
For Linux (and Mac?), the Python script hydra-fw-tool.py is packaged in the release download. It is supposed to be run with Python 3.7 (and later), and it will automatically inform you about dependencies.
Assuming you have Python 3.7 (or later) installed, cd navigate to where you've place the python script, and then run python hydra-fw-tool.py. Then follow the on-screen instructions. All you need to do is to tell it which serial port to use, and then tell it where the firmware *.hex file is.
There are hidden options that are available, use hydra-fw-tool.exe --help or python hydra-fw-tool.py --help from a command-line-prompt/terminal to reveal them. This will be useful for attempting forms of automation.
The tool will automatically attempt to prevent you from writing the wrong file. This functionality is not perfect. But if it does throw an error, please don't ignore it.
Pressing the key combination CTRL + C will interrupt the app and cause it to quit.
Use from a command line or terminal, the command hydra-fw-tool.exe --preserveeeprom or python hydra-fw-tool.py --preserveeeprom
Use from a command line or terminal, the command hydra-fw-tool.exe --fullsave or python hydra-fw-tool.py --fullsave
The file that this saves will contain both the bootloader and the EEPROM (settings) memory region. You can also use ST-Link to flash this full file and it would be immediately ready to use without bootloading or reconfiguring.
This is useful for rapidly preparing spare ESCs before a competition.